Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Tuesday condemned the age old custom of ghoongat that keeps woman under veil. Stressing on the importance of women empowerment for nation-building, Gehlot urged for eradication of the practice of covering women’s faces with a ‘ghoonghat’.
“Time has changed now but the practice of ‘ghoonghat’ is still there in villages. What is right in confining a woman to ‘ghoonghat’? Women cannot progress till the ‘ghoonghat’ exists,” he said at a programme in Jaipur organised by an NGO.
Gehlot said women would be able to come forward and play a constructive role in nation-building only when they are not forced to cover their faces.
Gehlot also emphasized the importance of completely eradicating the practice of child marriages, saying it destroys the lives of children.
The chief minister said his government is serious about crime against women and therefore decided earlier this year to depute a senior police officer at the district level to monitor cases of crime against women.
